


The Bodyguard

by G0dC0mplex



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crime Fighting, Heroes to Villains, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-04
Updated: 2014-06-04
Packaged: 2018-02-03 08:17:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1737710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/G0dC0mplex/pseuds/G0dC0mplex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Joker puts out a hit on Richard Greyson. Bruce hires Slade as his bodyguard. But Deathstroke takes an interest in Robin and Robin wants to take down Deathstroke. Bruce is just trying to be a dad!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Now everyone shut up and hit the floor!" The Joker grinned as he waved a gun around. He was currently in the middle of robbing the Gotham City Bank and there was no sign of Batman. This was probably the best heist of his life! "Come on," He walked over to the bank tellers and knocked on the glass with his gun. "Smile. It's not that bad." A guard reached for his gun and aimed it at the Joker. The Joker shot the guard without even looking away from the teller. "Unless you're that guy."

The guard's gun fell and slid across the floor and stopped at a young teenager's feet. He was on his stomach and hiding his face. The teen looked over at the gun. He shouldn't do it. He was supposed to keep himself out of the way and out of trouble and wait until Batman showed up.

Richard looked down at his watch. Was this thing working? He pressed the emergency button fifteen minutes ago. He looked back over at the gun. He really shouldn't do it.

The Joker laughed as he picked up the dead guard and danced around with him, blood spilling everywhere as the body spun. "By god!" The Joker exclaimed, "You feel a little limp." the guard's head fell back and a small amount of blood mixed with saliva dripped out of his mouth and down his face. "But you are so light on your feet!" He shouted with a mad grin.

Richard glanced at all the frightened people in the room. He had to do something, anything. He reached out for the handgun. As his fingers just barely graced the gun the body of the guard dropped down next to him and a voice above him spoke, "Don't try to be a hero, kid." The voice held no humor. Richard looked up and there before him was the Joker with a scowl on his face. Well, as much a scowl as he could have.

"Well, I'll be dammed! It's Brucy's boy." The psycho reached down and pulled Richard to his feet. "Why don't you come and sit over here by me?" The Joker practically dragged Richard by his collar over to a waiting sofa in the middle of the room. He threw the boy down onto the couch and turned to his men. "Hurry up!" He shouted. To emphasize his need to rush he shot one of the croons in the back of the head.

People screamed and hid their heads. Richard recoiled when the Joker plopped down next to him. The mad man slung his arm around his shoulders. “It’s real good you're here, boy. Now I'll have a meat shield when the Bat shows up. He never lets me have my fun..." The Joker sighed. He turned to Richard with his evil grin and leered at him. "Do you want to have some fun, kid?"

Richard looked away. "No thanks. I'll just wait for Batman to come." He looked around and noticed that they were almost done getting everything into bags. He had to stall them, somehow. "Besides,” He tact on, "you're not really my type." The Joker just sputtered at the boy. "That's not what I meant!" The Joker jumped up from his spot and looked at all of the people staring at him. "That's not what I meant!"

Richard smiled to himself as the Joker got more and more angry. Surprising as it sounds, an angry Joker was less likely to kill anyone. "Tell them that you twisted my words!" The Joker pointed his gun at Richard, ready to shoot him. 'Well, my logic is often wrong...' Richard held his hands up in the air and backed up a little. "Whatever you say. Just put the gun away. You've got your money, you can go now." He pointed to the door.

The Joker looked at the door and then back at Richard. The psycho stepped forward and the kid leaned back. "You're right. I should just go." He said slowly. "But with Gotham’s finest out there it's going to be rather difficult," He grabbed Richard's wrist and pulled him towards the main entrance. "Without my meat shield! Heeheehee!"

Outside, the cops surrounded the bank with snipers, S.W.A.T. and other forms of police. The Commissioner was on the radio trying to get ahold of the security guard inside the bank, not knowing he was dead. The whole place was a mess. Some of the city's most important people were in there. The front doors burst open and the Joker walked out with Richard in front of him. "Oh, look. We have an audience!" The Joker yelled. "Tell them who you are." When Richard didn't say or do anything, the Joker let go of his wrist and grabbed ahold of his hair, yanking his head up for all to see. "Tell them!"

"My name is Richard Grayson!" He yelled out. Almost immediately, the Commissioner ordered everyone to stand down.

"And I'll do something very unpleasant to him if anyone tries to stop me." The villain then stuck the gun into Richard's mouth. The goons loaded a toy truck with the money, jewelry, and gold. Of all the banks in the city this one was supposed be the safest and here it was, being robbed by a clown.

'Where is Batman?!' Richard panicked. He started having problems breathing with the gun in his mouth. The Joker started to move them backwards and then into the back of the van. When the two of them were in the van the Joker pulled the gun out of the kid's mouth and aimed at the crowd of people. "Pick someone, kid." The Joker ordered. Richard didn't answer at first, but when the mad man aimed at an old lady he grabbed the man's other arm tightly and shook his head frantically. "Please, I'll do anything! Just don't harm anymore people." Richard looked up at the Joker. The Joker looked down at him and cringed. He closed his eyes briefly before firing the gun four times. The four goons in front of them fell down dead. People screamed and fled the area.

The Joker threw Richard down onto the sacks of money and slammed the doors shut. "Drive!" He ordered the last of the goons. They sped off, down the street. The Joker turned to Richard and looked him up and down. "Anything?" Richard looked at him like he had just grown a second head. Was he serious? This couldn't be the real Joker.

"Not that!" The Joker yelled. This kid was seriously making him very unhappy! He pulled the kid up and stared him down. "I want you to start a 'Joker fan club'." He said with a big grin on his face.

"You've got to be kidding me." Richard started to laugh. It just figured. Fans, then world domination. Yup, this was the real Joker, alright. "Haha-no." He stopped laughing and answered.

"You listen here you little sh-!" At that moment the front windshield smashed in and the last goon died. The van came to a sudden halt and the two hit the van wall and bounced to the very back of the van. Bags busted open around them and all Richard knew was that he was on the bottom.

Outside, Batman was very pissed that Richard allowed himself to be kidnapped. He threw open the back doors, coins and other valuables falling out, and the sight that greeted his eyes made his blood boil. There was the Joker, with a gun, on top of his adopted son in what could be call a very compromising position. The two looked up at him and the Joker paled (if possible). Richard blushed. That was all. No trying to explain, no trying to get out. He couldn't do anything but blush.


	2. Chapter 2

After giving his statement and acting like a helpless victim and Bruce making a big show of fatherly affection, Richard was allowed to go home. Currently, he had just gotten out of the shower and was making his way down to the bat cave.

As he descended the stairs he saw Batman looking over the police files from the botched bank robbery earlier that day. He went into the dressing area and started to change into to his new uniform.

"Robin," Batman called from the computer command. "Is there anything you left out in your witness statement?" He asked.

"Oh, no more than the usual." Robin came out from behind the curtain and walked up next to Batman. He tossed his mask on the table as he put his gloves on. Batman looked over at him for a short second before looking back at the computer screen. There was a three second before Batman looked at him, again.

"What are you wearing? -What happened to your uniform?" The get-up his sidekick was wearing wasn't his usual uniform.

Robin put his hands on his hips. "Don't you remember? Last week on my birthday I said I was getting too old to be wearing underwear as a costume. Alfred agreed with me." He turned to the older man descending the stairs.

"Leave me out of this one, Master Richard." The kindly old butler said, not wanting to get in the middle of the soon-to-be argument.

"I don't like it. Go change." Batman turned back to the computer screens.

"Well, I didn't like the last one. The spandex was too hot, the 'shorts'-if you could call them that-were too embarrassing, and the cape always get in the way." Robin crossed his arms over his chest. "I like this," He showed himself off, "Besides, this is much more mature."

Robin's new outfit was much more suited to the teen. Instead of ‘booty shorts’, the teen now wore tight leather pants that road very low with black knee high boots. His shirt was the same as his old one except now it opened in the front with three yellow straps in the front, showing off his chest while still being tucked in. He no longer wore a cape, but he decided to keep the yellow utility belt seeing as he just couldn’t part with it. That would be stupid!

"Mature?" Batman got out of his seat and stood in front of Robin. "You turned seventeen, not twenty-one."

"I'm not wearing that jailbait get-up anymore!" Robin yelled at his mentor. The two stared each other down for what seemed like forever.

"Then find something else." Batman ordered.

"No." Robin turned and stormed out of the Bat cave. Tonight, he was going to meet up with his friends, anyway. He didn't have to see Batman for the rest of the night so they should both be able to simmer down before they had to see each other, again.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Robin ran across the rooftops of Gotham City. This night he didn't have to travel too far too see his friend. Each week he and other sidekicks would get together in one of their cities and hang out. Tonight was Gotham. They were told to never go out looking for criminals, but they did anyway. It was kind of their version of being normal delinquents.

"Robin!"  
He heard someone call his name. He looked over and there they were. Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven were all waving to him as he landed on the roof. He smiled and waved at them all.

"Friend, oh how I love your new costume!" Starfire said as she picked him up and hugged him.

"Star. Human. Can't breathe." Robin squeezed out with his last breath. Starfire let him down with an apology. The alien princess still didn’t know how to control her own strength when it came to humans.

"What brought on the new change?" Raven asked. 

"How bout necessity to live. That cape was going to decapitate me one of these days." Robin leaned against the railing of the roof to relax. "So, where's Super boy and Wonder girl?" He asked looking around. They were always at these get-to-gethers.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Speedy asked as he hopped onto the roof. He put his fists on his hips and gave a look of hurt.

"Well, you certainly wouldn't be chopped brain." Kid Flash showed up out of nowhere, causing Speedy jumped into the air in surprise.

Robin just laughed at his friends' antics. He loved getting together with them. He and Cyborg were planning on putting together a team when they turn eighteen. They even had a city in mind to set up shop. Jump City.

About an hour went by as they told each other what their weeks were like. After that, Super boy and Wonder girl had shown up and the girls had separated from the guys. They were likely talking about girl stuff and nothing to do with superhero stuff at all. The guys, however, were competing for the worst week ever.

"...And so he's got us, like, right where he wants us and you know what he starts doing?" Super boy exclaimed, "He starts monologing!" They all laughed, "I mean, he's got us trapped in a barrier of kryptonite and he can't stop talking about how we're so inferior to his master plan. I mean just kill us already!"

"Hey, Robin, how was your week?" Flash asked. Everyone's eyes turned to him like they were waiting for some big story.

"I take it you all want to know about today..." Robin sighed. Ofcource they'd all seen it on the news.

"Yes, do tell us how a clown managed to nap a kid." Starfire asked of him innocently.

"The term is kidnap, Star." Wonder girl said. All three girls sat down with them in the large circle.

"Is it true? What they’re saying on TV?" Flash asked in a surprisingly serious tone.

Robin gave him a quizzical look, "Is what true?" 

At that moment, there was a loud boom across the street. Everyone shot up and looked out over the railing. A jewelry store's windows were blown out and the alarm rang off.

"Go!" Robin yelled to everyone.

Immediately, they all jumped into action. They rushed to put out the fire, but when they got there they saw no flames. They didn't see any jewels either. What they did see was a figure on the roof with a large bag. The figure just stood there, staring down at them. He held out his hand and let a diamond ring drop down to the heroes below. Robin caught the oversized diamond and looked at it. He looked back up and glared at the man. "Get him!"

The mystery man ran and jumped across onto another building. By the time any of them were close enough to attack, they'd already traveled five blocks. Robin was close enough to use a bird-a-rang and when it was about to hit the man it was blocked by a staff that extended out of nowhere. Robin pulled out his own staff and attacked the man.

The rest of the teens stood back and waited for when they were needed. Robin had claimed first dibs on the guy and so they just stood ready to come into the fight if he needed help.

The man swung his staff around and under Robin's legs, causing him to trip and fall. The man lifted his foot and brought it down, aiming for Robin’s ribs, but before his foot connected Starfire flew in and knocked the guy through the wall of another building.

Robin got up and grabbed the bag of jewelry. He immediately dropped it. What the hell was in here? He looked inside and saw that all of the gold and silver was melted together, the jewels sticking out at all ends. "Looks like there's a whole lot more in here than from just that jewelry store, alone." Speedy said, looking into the bag. "Should we get this back to Batman?" He asked. It was odd that someone would steal so much jewelry and just melt it down. What was the man planning to do with all of it?

"Yeah, we really should." Robin replied. "I'll call him." He said, reluctantly. He still didn't want to talk to him because of their fight. As he went to grab his communicator he saw it was gone. He looked all around for it, but it was nowhere to be seen.

"Looking for something?" A smooth voice asked from behind him. Robin turned around and saw the man standing there, holding his communicator in one hand and Starfire in the other. Now in full sight of the city lights, Robin could make out what the man looked like. He was dressed in black cevlar and leather. His armor was simple and not too flashy. The only color he wore was the orange on half of his one eyed mask.

The masked man threw Starfire over to them. As she crashed onto the roof top, the other teens raced to get her. Robin just stood staring at the man. "Who are you?" He demanded. He needed that communicator back.

"Give me the bag." The man demanded. "I need those materials." The man stepped forward and held up the communicator. "And you need to call for help."

"No." Robin winced when the man crushed the communicator in his hand. He sure hoped that someone else had called for help. The man dropped the crushed hunk of junk and continued to approach the group of teens.

Speedy stepped forward and fired one of his arrows at him. The man slapped it away with his staff. Beast Boy turned into a ram and charged the man and though he knocked him back a bit the man didn't go down and was actually pushing back. The man gained the upper hand and flipped Beast Boy onto his side, forcing the boy to turn back to his human form.

"Give me the bag." The man reached out for Robin.

Robin tossed the heavy bag as best he could over to Super boy and the super teen flew off with it. The only problem was that Robin was now cornered. Speedy shot another arrow, but this one the man caught and threw back at him, making him get caught in a net that shot out of it. The man turned back to Robin and grabbed him by the hair and lifted him up off his feet.

"Ah! Let me go!" Robin aimed a kick at the man's ribs, but was caught by the man's arm. Robin managed to kick him with his other foot, but he almost went off the side of the building. Luckily, he was able to balance himself on the railing, but it left him wide open. The man wrapped his hand around the boy's throat and started to squeeze.

"Give me the bag and I won't throw him off the side of the building."

At that moment Superman flew in and grabbed the man and threw him a few feet away. Robin hung off the side of the building until he couldn't hang on anymore and slipped from the railing.

Batman appeared and grabbed ahold of Robin's hand. He pulled him back over the edge.

"…Thanks." Robin said with a sigh. He couldn't very well be angry with the older man, now.

"What were you kids thinking, trying to take on someone like him?" Wonder woman asked as she and the Green arrow showed up. What was this? Parents' Night?

"Who is he?" Kid Flash asked.

Said man got back to his feet and dusted off the rubble from the building. "Deathstroke the Terminator." Batman said, bitterly. This man must have been on exceptionally bad terms with Batman for him to use such venom in his voice just by saying his name.

"Wait, Deathstroke? Like, that Deathstroke?" Kid Flash asked to clarify. You could just see the wheels in his head turning. Then... the panic. "Oh, shit! We just- no you just pissed off one of the most notorious villains of all time!" He yelled, pointing at Robin.

Then Super boy picked Robin up, out of Deathstroke's reach, as the villain came in for an attack. "That's two in one day, should I be worried?" The half super-human spoke in a low voice. “I mean, the first one all but molests you and the second one gives you a ring.”

The fight continued between the older superheroes and the supervillian.

“Well, maybe if you molested me and gave me jewelry you wouldn’t have to worry.”

“About that-“

Batman was in the process of attempting to take off Deathstroke's faceplate when the villain caught him off guard and threw him over the side of the building.

"Batman!" Robin yelled. He looked up at Super boy, "Drop me and go get him." he ordered and Super boy nodded. He flew over Deathstroke and dropped Robin off.

As Robin landed, he placed a well-aimed kick right for the man and hit him in the chest. Deathstroke grabbed the boy's leg as he fell back and brought him down as well. Wonder woman swooped in and pulled Robin free just as the Green Arrow shot one of his regular arrows at Deathstroke and got him right in the shoulder. The man stumbled back and went right off the back of the roof.

Super boy came back up with Batman and as soon as they landed Batman started lecturing about how dangerous it was to be fighting without them there. "It's too dangerous! You should have called for help!" He yelled at Robin. Things were still a bit sour between them.

"Well, we didn't really have a chance- the bastard kinda crushed my communicator. Besides, we can't just go running for you every time we see a bad guy." Robin wasn't going to let Batman put all the blame on him.

"Now, now. Just calm down, here." Superman intervened, "Are you all alright?" He asked looking around. Starfire was already back on her feet and looked just fine. As everyone confirmed that they were ok, Batman simmered down a bit. "Now, I think it would be best if you all just went home for the night." Complaints were made, but in the end they all agreed to go home and Robin reluctantly fallowed Batman back to the bat cave.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Batman and Robin were back in the bat cave, now and were still a little upset with each other. "Go change and then we'll talk." Batman said as he removed his cowl. He walked into the dressing area and started to disrobe. Robin just did as he was told.

After changing into a pair of green drawstring sweatpants and a red hoodie, Richard sat down at the computers and waited for Bruce to come out. And as the man came out, fully clothed, he gave a look that was half irritation and half worry. Bruce sat down and pulled up a file on the big screen.

"How much did you leave out of your witness statement?" Bruce asked, not even looking at him.

"That's what this is about? I already told you." Richard leaned back in his chair. What was the man's problem? "Are you still upset about the uniform switch?" He asked.

"Dammit!" Bruce slammed his fist down on the table. "This has nothing to do with your uniform!" He said rather angrily. He then took in a deep breath to calm himself down so he could better access the situation at hand. "I've looked through all of the files and witness statements from the bank robbery and all of the witnesses seem to have mentioned something that you didn't...” He spoke slowly so that he wouldn't fly off the handle in anger.

"Like what? I told them everything, short of me being a superhero." Richard complained and looked at the computer screen, looking for something that he could have forgotten to tell the police.

"They all say that the Joker... was..." Bruce wasn't quite sure how to put it.

"Was, what?"

"That he was harassing and... making suggestive remarks towards you." Bruce didn't like the idea of some villain- especially the Joker- trying to make a move on his ward.

"What?! That's not what happened!" Richard nearly fell out of his chair at what the man said. "I admit, he was getting his words mixed up a little, but he made it rather clear that that wasn't what he meant."

"Then explain why he was on top of you when I opened the doors to the van." Bruce felt like he was trying to get information about a secret boyfriend out of this kid. Wait, did he have a secret boyfriend? Richard did come out of the closet about a year ago. Was it speedy? Kid Flash? SUPER BOY?!

"The van slammed into a wall. We were tossed around like potatoes inside that tin can!" Richard explained, remaining completely unaware of Bruce's sudden burst of long awaited 'parental panic'. "We were bound to land somewhere."

Bruce shook his head free of his thoughts and looked gravely at the boy. "At any rate, the Joker's not too happy about the current situation. He's currently in Arkum Asylum, under sedation because of this." He pulled up a video file and pressed play. On the video was the Joker in a cell pacing back and forth in a straightjacket, ranting about one thing or another:

"Just because I'm a bad guy they think that that ruins my integrity." The Joker loomed over to the screen. "Hey! Is that thing playing live?" He asked as he got a little closer.

"Sure is." Someone out of sight replied.

The Joker got even closer to the screen, "Listen good. I won't be in here for too long and when I get out I'm gonna blow this place to kingdom come. But, before I do, I want that snot nose brat Richard Grayson dead. DEAD! DEAD! DEAD! DEAD! DEAD! Do you hear me out there? Anyone who owes me anything. Your slate is cleaned if you do this for me!" A few men came in and sedated the mad man as he fell into a hysterical fit of laughter. The footage ended with a guard putting a hand over the camera.

"So, now, according to the ten o’clock news, there is a supposed bounty on your head." Bruce said rather disdainfully. Things weren't looking too good for the kid right now. "If the Joker wants you dead then there's going to be a lot of response to this video. There's going to be a lot of bad guys out to get you just so that their debt to him will be cleared."

"I'm not going into hiding if that what you're thinking." Richard wasn't the type to sit in a room and wait out the storm. He didn't hide when his family was killed and he wasn't going to do that, now.

"I know and I wouldn't want you to. That's why I hired you a bodyguard." Bruce smirked when he saw the look on Richard's face. The look of non-belief was almost priceless. Well, not quite. That look was actually costing him fifty grand a week. Luckily, he wasn't one who had to worry about money.

"But you know that I can take care of myself. Why do I have to have a bodyguard?" Richard complained.

"I'm well aware that you can handle more than enough of the bad guys in this city, but there are going to be real players coming after you. And... I can't let... you get hurt." Bruce mumbled out that last part, not really knowing how to play out the emotions going through him at the moment.

"Aww," Richard said, as if referring to something cute, "You care." He said, smiling.

"No, I don't." Bruce turned away, not wanting to admit to having grown attached to the kid.

"Yes you do!" Richard smiled madly and hugging the man, "Alright I'll have the bodyguard and I won't try to make his life a living hell." Richard held up a scout's honor sign.

"You're not a scout."

"I know." Richard wasn't going down without a fight.


	3. Chapter 3

"Richard, he's here!" Bruce called up the stairs to the study where Richard was practicing his gymnastics. When Richard first came to Wayne Manor, all he did was practice in the gym and tried to stay out of Bruce's way, but when Bruce put a gymnastics set, in the middle of the library of all places, for him, Richard started spending more time with the man.

"So?" He heard Richard say. He was worried about what Richard might do to his new bodyguard. The last two didn't last very long, but this new man was ex-military and a highly decorated war veteran. Of course, what Richard was planning this time, Bruce didn't want to know.

Richard jumped off the gym set and came halfway down the stairs before just plopping down on the steps. The doorbell rang and Alfred took it upon himself to open the door. He looked back at Richard and gave him a look that said 'behave yourself' before opening the door.

Richard came down the stairs the rest of the way to get a better look at the man. The new comer was taller than Bruce by about an inch and had white hair. He shook Bruce's hand and nodded to Alfred. At some point Richard took notice of the eyepatch over the man's right eye. The man was well built, very muscular like the last two bodyguards. There was something about this man, however, that said he wasn't a bodyguard. This man had more of a refined thing about him that wasn't found in your typical run-of-the-mill goons.

"And this is Richard." Bruce said. Richard snapped out of his train of thought and nodded to the man. The man nodded back and that was it. No trying to make friends, no trying to get on his good side. 'But the man still has to go.' Richard thought to himself.

"This is Slade Wilson, a good friend of mine and your new bodyguard." Bruce said, knowing exactly what was going on inside his ward's mind.

"Ok. I've met him. Can I go now?" Richard said as he climbed the stairs, "I gotta get ready."

Richard never waited for an answer from Bruce and just walked into his room. He grabbed his new communicator and walked into his walk-in closet. He flipped open his communicator. It was a new type that Vic came up with. It was yellow and black and to anyone else it just looked like a cell phone.

He pressed the conference button and Vic, Roy, Conner, Gar, and Raven answered. "I can't believe I don't even get a single night to myself." Richard started as he went through his clothes. "Bruce already got me a new bodyguard."

"What's he like?" Gar asked.

"Well, he wasn't trying to get on my good side, but he's not the type of man I want covering my ass. I think he might be ex-military-and he's like a hundred or something. Definitely somewhere around Bruce’s age." Richard grabbed a pair of skinny jeans.

"Is that old here on earth?" Starfire asked. Richard stopped and looked at his communicator, "Kory? When did you link up?"

"I did not. I am at Cassie's, so is Raven." Kory answered.

"No matter what planet you girls come from it's the same thing. Slumber parties and make-up. Are you doing each other's nails right now?" Conner commented in an irritated voice. "Guys don't waste time on that kind of stuff. Right, guys?" All of the boys, except Richard, voiced their agreement. "Right, Richard?" Conner pushed.

"Oh, right-totally stupid." Richard blushed. He picked up his communicator and texted Raven, saying they were still on for the chick flick movie night at his place the next night. Every once in a while he and the girls would get together and watch movies that would make them cry.

"Well, anyway..." Conner began, but stopped. "Richard, we need to talk..." He was hesitant to say whatever it was that he was going to say.

"Alright," Vic said, "Everyone else off the line." And with that he hung up. Eventually everyone hung up and that only left Richard and Conner on the line. There was silence for a few minutes.

In the awkward moments, Richard pulled out a pair of knee-high leather boots. He turned to the communicator to make sure it was still working and that he wasn't disconnected from Conner. "Conner? Are you still there?" He asked into the speaker.

"Yeah, I'm just thinking about how to say this."

Richard sat down on the lounge in his large closet, "I didn't want to think of the 'we need to talk' part like that, but now..." Was Conner trying to break up with him? They'd only been together for a few months.

"What? NO! No, not that." Conner said, laughing.

"Don’t worry me like that!”

"No, it’s just that I won’t be able to go to the club opening with you tonight.” Conner sounded depressed, even though dance clubs weren’t really his thing.

“But you promised to go with me!” Richard didn’t usually wine, but he wanted Conner there with him tonight to dance with. “What happened? Did something big come up with Clark?”

“Sort of… Lex filed for joint custody…”

Richard didn’t know what to say so he just let it all out with one loud burst of laughter. Conner clearly didn’t appreciate it, cursing the other boy out.

“No! No! I’m sorry! I really am.” Richard was calming himself down, not wanting to hurt Conner’s feeling. “So, do you have to spend weekends at his place? Oh! Is he gonna take you fishing?” He couldn’t help it. This was just too funny.  
“shut up!... SO are we good?”  
"Yeah, we're good. It’s not like he knew about us anyway." They said their good-byes and Richard went to take a shower.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Richard was in the middle of lacing up his boots when his door opened. He looked up, expecting to see Bruce, but instead there was Slade in his place.

Richard jumped up and threw the first thing he grabbed at the man, which was his pillow. "Jesus! Don't you know how to knock?" He glared at the man who caught the pillow with ease.

Slade tossed the pillow on the bed and looked at Richard. "You should really wear more clothing."

Richard crossed his arms over his bare chest. "I'm not done getting dressed.” He walked back into his closet. “So leave!"

"That's a nasty bruise you've got there." Slade pointed out. He was referring to the large purple and black bruise that Richard had on his side. It was on his lower left and half of it was covered by his rather low riding pants.

Richard looked down at it and then covered it up with his hand. "It's from the day with the Joker." He lied. It was actually from last night with the Riddler. The stupid bastard hit him in his side with his cane.

Richard slipped on a grey button up shirt. He left it unbuttoned for now and rolled up the sleeves. He put a black leather two-inch buckle up cuff on his left wrist and he was ready to go.

"I'm an expert on bruises and I can tell that it's much more resent than that." Slade came up from behind and exposed Richard's bruise. "And if I'm not mistaken, this bruise would have to have been made by something harder than a fist." He hooked his thumb into the waistband of the boy's pants and tugged down a little to see the rest of the beaten area. “Repeatedly." He whispered into his ear.

Richard stood frozen, looking at Slade in the full length mirror across from them. All his vision held was Slade with his arms around his waist, touching his skin.

Slade looked up, into the mirror, at Richard, "Ofcourse, then again, I could be wrong." He snapped the waistband back in place and walked out of Richard's room.

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"He's dangerous," Richard insisted to Bruce, "He knew I was lying about the bruise on my side." Richard was down in Bruce's study right now trying to convince Bruce that Slade was a bad idea.

"Well, he is an expert." Bruce didn't even look up when he replied. "Although, he is a bit sharper than I last remember him to be. It could be a reactant to his coma." Bruce then looked up at the celine in thought.

“Coma? Was he in an accident?”

Bruce stopped and looked down at the boy, “You’d have to ask him about that. Though, I wouldn’t count on an answer.” He went back to his work.

"So, are you going to tell me what's really bothering you? There's something else, too, I can tell." Bruce pushed for some information.

"It's nothing. Conner just can’t go tonight, but that's not a big deal-"

"That little shit dumped you didn't he." Bruce stood up from behind his desk. He never liked Conner.

"NO! And how can you call him that? He's your best friend's son." Richard was a little upset with the way Bruce was acting. He wouldn't listen to Richard when he said Slade was dangerous, but he flew off the hanger when he mentioned Conner.

Bruce picked up the phone and started to dial. "No, he's the clone of my best friend-made by Lex-"

Richard grabbed the phone from Bruce and hung it up and turned to leave. "Forget I said anything." And he left.

As he made his way out the front door and to the limo, he saw Slade standing with the door open for him. "Where exactly is your destination for the night?" He asked as Richard got in. He followed and sat across from the teen.

"What does it matter to you? Just keep suspicious people away and that's it." Richard pulled out his 'cell phone' and started to text random people, mentioning that he was now available for the night. A line of texts came in asking for dances at the club tonight.

"It matters. I need to know how close I need to be." Slade retorted, not liking the way this kid was acting.

Richard looked up from his cell and to his new bodyguard. "All you had to do was ask how close." He said innocently. Then he leaned in and with all seriousness he added, "If you get within twenty feet of me I will drop-kick your ass. I can take care of myself. You're just for show." And then he went back to texting. "I'm headed to The FireHouse for the Grand Opening. I was invited to make an appearance at the club as a special guess."

The black privacy shield in the front rolled down, revealing the driver. “Master Richard, your vest and tie.” The driver pasted back a dry clean bag which the boy jumped up to get.

Richard traveled the not so short distance to the front. Saying thank you to the driver, he tore open the bag and proceeded to get dressed as the shield rolled back up. After finishing, he kept his pink tie loose and looked himself over as he smoothed out his new black vest. When he was done, he laid down on the long side lounge of the limo and then proceeded to text.

Slade stayed silent. The only reason he was even doing this was because he owed Bruce Wayne a favor. A big one. The drug that brought him out of his coma was made by Wayne industries and Bruce Wayne picked him out for the test and it worked, but it only worked for him. The drug killed the other two patients it was used on. He owed the man, even if it was just a fluke, and if that meant he had to deal with this brat then so be it. Besides, the kid was easy to fluster and it was fun to mess with him.


	4. Chapter 4

The limo pulled up to the front of the club where the red carpet was. Slade stepped out and quickly surveyed the crowd. He stepped aside and let the teen heir out of the limousine. Cameras flashed and people called out Richard's name, trying to get his attention. Richard smiled and waved to people and shook hands with some. Some people asked for a picture with him or his autograph. How this kid was a celebrity just because he was rich was beyond Slade. As they made their way to the front doors another car came up to the carpet. The crowd got even louder when the occupant stepped out. Richard turned to see who it was and his smile fell right off his face.

Nathan Veidt. He was the son of Adrian Veidt, the 'sell out'. His father was offered two million dollars to tell everyone his secret identity when he retired from being the superhero, Ozymandias, back in the 80’s. He then used the money to make billions by making superhero action figures and weapons for the military.

Nathan was infamous for being rather forward with his sexuality. And he had a thing for Richard. He was in a number of movies and all of them were where he was a superhero. He had his own powers and Richard only thought of them as a nuisance.

The older teen walked up to Richard, "Smile for the cameras." Before Richard even had a chance to react he was scooped up and kissed by Nathan. Before Slade could stop it, cameras went wild and reporters started asking non-stop questions. "I got a tip that the gay marriage bill is going to pass tomorrow for Gotham City." Nathan whispered into Richard's ear.

There was a resounding gasp from the crowd when Nathan grabbed Richard's hand and held it out for all to see. Richard looked at his hand and saw a huge engagement ring on his finger.

"Aren't you worried about the hit out on Richard Grayson’s life?" One reporter asked.

"Ofcource not. I'll protect him." Nathan’s voice held a certainty as he spoke into the camera that was with the reporter.

"Have you set a date, yet?" Another reporter asked Richard. "Are you going to wear a dress?"

"What?! No!" Richard yelled, "This isn't happening." He tried to explain.

"You mean Bruce Wayne doesn't know?" The first reporter asked.

Richard just wanted to scream at of them, but just then, Slade swooped in and ushered the two teens into the night club.

"What the hell were you thinking-no wait-were you thinking?" Richard asked. He yanked off the ring and threw it at Nathan who caught it without the smug smirk leaving his face.

"I think Wayne industries and Veidt should merge companies." Nathan answered, "And the perfect way to do that is by us getting married. The first gay marriage in Gotham City." He held out the ring for Richard to see, a colorful sparkle shining off of it.

Richard looked at the ring and watched the colors dance as he started to feel light headed. He opened his mouth to say something, but what was it? He couldn’t remember. Was that ring always so shiny? He reached out for the ring, it just looked so pretty and he wanted to wear it. He leaned into Nathan, wanting to get closer to the other.

Nathan wrapped his arm around Richard, smiling down at him. “I knew I could persuade you to see things my way.” But before he could do any more, Slade grabbed his arm and twisted it backwards, causing him to drop the ring. This snapped Richard out of his trance-like state, causing his to shove Nathan away. He found the ring and stomped down on it with his heel, smashing it.

“I can’t believe you used your powers on! If you ever do that again… it will hurt.” Richard whispered the last part so only Nathan could hear it and then walked off. Slade released Nathan with a slight shove and followed Richard. “YOU keep your distance.”  
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Slade stayed off to the side. There was a section of the room where there were tables and couches, so he made his way over there.

After about two hours and four invites to dance later, Slade was getting bored. How long could this kid dance without stopping to get something for some air? He'd danced with two girls, avoided Nathan and then danced with three other guys and then went back to avoiding Nathan. This kid sure had energy.

Suddenly, the fire sprinklers turned on and everyone stopped what they were doing. The music stopped and Slade looked for Richard in the crowd below. The teen was in the middle, looking up with the rest of the crowd. Everyone cheered and the music started up again with a song about fire.

Slade relaxed and sat back as the teen went back to dancing, grateful that the water wasn’t reaching him in the leather-clad lounge.

Slade disliked clubs, especially new ones. How was he supposed know what to expect? Why couldn't the kid be into country music and just go to a barn party?

Just then he heard Richard scream over the music. Slade stood up immediately only to see Richard hoisted up onto the stage. The boy was put onto a part with a pole and was given a microphone. A singer came onto stage and everyone cheered as the two rubbed up against each other. Richard swung around the pole a couple times before singing.

We didn't start the fire  
It was always burning  
Since the world's been turning  
We didn't start the fire  
No we didn't light it  
But we tried to fight it

Richard dance when the other listed off names of people and events and took turns singing.

Slade was rather surprised the kid had any talent. He'd thought that the kid could walk a tight rope and that was it.

Richard and the other singer finished the song and waved to the crowd. He then handed the microphone back and proceeded to dance around the pole. Poles seemed to be part of the theme because they were everywhere. All of the teens seemed to just be having fun as they danced and roughhoused around. Some were bumping and grinding, but it wasn't like how it would be in an adults only club.

Richard pulled a couple of girls up to dance next to him on the party stage. Some reporters got in front of the stage and took some pictures of them and Richard flashed them a smile and a peace sign.

Two more hours went by and Slade was ready to kill everyone in the room. Had they served alcohol here, he would have done it already. How fucking long could this kid dance? How long was this place open for, let alone Opening Night? Wasn't it a school night?

"Hey, you wanna dance?" Some girl came up to him and asked. He turned to her and glared.

"Does your father know you're here?" He asked and her eyes got wide and she ran away. One more scared little child on the Earth and his world was getting brighter. He almost smiled. Almost.

Now if only he could scare some superhero's brats. Because of those delinquents, he had to go out of town to get what he needed. But the one he really wanted to put a good scare into was that one in the skin-tight costume and mask. Batman's sidekick, Robin, was it? He’d heard of the boy, but that was when the kid had first shown up and the Joker was making fun of him tripping over his own cape. That was a little over five years ago.

Slade was pulled out of his train of thought when he saw Richard start to walk in his direction. A waiter offered him a bottle of water and he accepted it. By the time Richard got to Slade, he'd already drank half of it. ‘So he is human.’

"Come on, we're going." Richard said as he changed direction and headed towards the door. Slade got up and followed the teen out. As they were getting in the limo, a thought crossed Slade's mind. 'Wait, waiter?' clubs didn't have waiters. They had bartenders, but not waiters.

The limo was surrounded by poparatcci and so it would take some time to even get out of the parking lot. Richard slumped back and let out a breath. He was exhausted from dancing for so long. He wouldn't have been there for so long had Slade not been there. He had glanced over at the bodyguard a few times while dancing and saw that he was bored out of his mind. Richard would have kept going, just to piss him off, if he hadn't gotten so tired. His body was aching and his feet were hurting.

'Well, at least I don't have to train tonight.' He laughed to himself and went to take another drink of his water. Before the bottle reached his lips, however, it was snatched away from him. Richard looked over at the culprit to see Slade with the bottle. "Hey! What the hell? Give me my water back."

Slade just ignored the boy and pulled out a small scanner out of his back pocket. "What are you doing?" Richard leaned over to get a better look. What was this man doing with such an advanced piece of equipment? Slade put a drop of water onto the screen of the scanner and analyzed the substance in the bottle.

Slade lifted an eyebrow. There was water in the bottle, but with something else.

"I recognize the H2o, but what's this other four percent?" Richard pointed at the screen. He was still learning chemical codes and formulas and didn't recognize these other two factors on the screen.

"It's one percent nerve stimuli and three percent sedative." Slade answered, not looking at Richard.

"Why would someone put a stimulant in a sedative? It just doesn't make any sense." Richard leaned back into his seat, "At any rate it didn't work, because I feel just fine. The only weakness I feel is from dancing and that's normal." He slung one leg over the over and closed his eyes.

A few minutes pasted and they were still in the parking lot. The teen hero could hear people asking all kinds of questions, all revolving around Nathan and that stupid ring. "Hey, um, driver. What's your name again?" Richard called up front.

"It's John, sir." The driver answered with a grin, looking back.

"Well, John, I will pay your way out of Arkum if you run over whoever you have to get out of here. Just bulldoze right through them." The teen offered.

John just laughed, "Oh, don't worry. We're almost at the end of the parking lot." He then turned back to the front.

Richard got bored again and started to mess with all of the buttons that Bruce would never let him push before. He found the TV switch and started flipping channels. He got bored with that and switched off the TV. After a few more buttons he opened the sun roof. The breeze felt nice and none of the poparatci could climb the limo. Thank god for that.

There was murmuring outside the limo and Richard started listening. There were gasps and a whoosh then a bang on top of the car. Richard's eyes flew open and the first thing that went through his mind was that someone had jumped off a building and crashed onto the roof of the limosine.

Slade went into high alert. He pulled out a gun, ready to shoot whoever stuck their head through the sun roof. However, what came through the sun roof was not a person.

A red ribbon shot down and wrapped itself around Richard's ankle. All Richard could say at that very moment wasn't 'Oh-no!’, it wasn't 'Help!', and sure as hell wasn't Slade's name called out in desperation. It was; "...Shit." Before he was hoisted right out of the limo through the sun roof.

Richard could feel the air rush by as he flew up into the air. For a split second he was in the air without falling or rising and the next he descended into a pair of arms. Richard looked up, expecting to see Nathan’s smug face. The face that was there, however, was not that of Nathan, but Red X.

"Oh, hell no!" Richard jumped out of X's arms and made a run for it. As he jumped off the hood of the limo, a large red x was shot out of Red X's hand and wrapped itself around Richard's torso and arms. The force of it caused him to fall to the ground.

Red X hopped off the limo and walked over to the boy. He righted the teen and looked him in the eyes. "Don't run, kid. You'll just hurt yourself." Richard just continued to struggle against his bonds.

Red X, aka, the mystery man that stole Robin's suit.

The Red X suit was for Robin to wear under cover. After Batman refused to let him go under cover, they locked it up in the volt in the bat cave. It was too dangerous to destroy. One day Red X showed up and that's when they found out that the suit was missing. Well, not missing. Obviously, it was right here, being worn by this asshole.

"What do you want?" Richard spat. There was no way Red X would go after someone for someone else. Not even for the Joker. But before Red X could answer he was hit by something and thrown into a wall across the street.

Richard looked back at who had attacked to see Slade standing there. "What did you throw at him?"

"A camera." Slade stated. He walked up to Richard and started to cut at the x.

The boy looked back at Red X, who was still in the wall and then back at Slade. "How big was the camera?!" He had a hard time trying to believe that one man could put another through a wall with a simple camera.

They heard a rumble from the other side of the street. Red X popped out of the wall and dropped a large smashed up news camera. Red X started at them with a great speed. Slade had cut half way through the red bindings and just ripped it in two. He grabbed Richard and dodged the thief.

Red X sighed, "You're going to make this hard, aren't you, old timer." He turned to the older man.

"What do you think?" Slade replied. He didn't have time for this. He had to get the kid back home before the sedative set in and he still didn’t know what the stimuli were for. He’d have to take care of this quick.

Slade and Red X charged after each other and attacked at the same time. At this point, everyone else had pretty much left the scene by now. Red smoke filled a good portion of the parking lot and Richard had a feeling that Slade wasn't pulling any punched. He couldn't see much in the cloud in front of him.

The roar of a motorcycle came up behind Richard. He turned around, only to see an arm reaching out to grab him. He ducked and ran towards the cloud. "What I wouldn't do for a bird-a-rang right about now." Richard whispered to himself. He knew that as long as he couldn't be seen then he'd be safe. Unfortunately, the cloud was clearing. He could barely make out Slade's and Red X's silhouettes through the fog for a moment, but then they were gone.

Richard couldn't see anything. A hand reached out and grabbed his shoulder. He turned around to see Slade standing behind him. "Oh, thank god. What is wrong with you?" Richard asked as he shoved the hand off his shoulder and began walking back to the limo. "You're supposed to keep me safe, not go off and fight. Some guy on a motorcycle tried to grab me while you were with Red X."

"But he didn't get you now, did he." Slade said, smugly. At that very moment a motorcycle came by and the rider snatched up the boy in an instance. Richard screamed at Slade as he was hauled off, down the street.

Slade had to think for a moment, "Shit."

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Richard clung to the psychopath that grabbed him as they flew down the street. He'd been placed on the bike in front of the man backwards and he had no idea where they were because his eyes were closed. He tried as hard as he could to keep a good grip on the man. He didn't have the security of being Robin right now and it was making it very hard not to panic. And, to make matters worse, Richard could feel himself losing strength. It must have been whatever was in that water he drank in the club.

After a while, they stopped at an old, abandoned, gas station and repair shop. He couldn't tell what part of down town they were in. The whole neighborhood was run down. Batman didn't let him come down town too often on patrol.

Richard was pulled off the bike and yanked towards the building. "Let me go!" Richard yelled and tried to get free. After some struggling, he somehow managed to kick the man in the shin and tried to run, but he didn't get far. The man grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder.

"Shut up, brat." The man carried him inside and into a back room where he dropped the teen onto a table. The whole place was too dark to see anything and he now had a headache from his head hitting the table. He sat up to see the man take off his helmet. Long dark hair fell down an overly muscular back.

The man-more like an older teenager-left the room and went out into the lobby. Richard slid off of the table and slowly fallowed the older teen. He hid behind the door frame as he used it to hold himself up and watched the man as he took a radio out of his pocket, "Hey, Red! Where are you? I've got the kid." There wasn't any response. "Dimmit, Red X! Are you even there?"

"Yeah, Johnny. I'm just a couple blocks away." Red X replied from the other end of the line.

"What the hell is taking you so long?" The older teen named Johnny asked. He walked over to a vending machine and hit it, making a Snickers candy bar fall out.

"That bodyguard was harder to take down than I thought," Red X groaned.

"Yeah, poor you." Johnny ate the candy bar as he started to kick the soda machine.

"He threw a limo at me!"

The limo? Slade actually picked up the limo and threw it at Red X? Yeah, right! That was probably just Red X making excuses.

"Hey!" Richard looked up to see Johnny standing in front of him in the doorway, "Did I say that you could get up and walk around?!" The older teen shoved Richard into the wall and held him there. Richard tried to pry his hand off of his shoulder, but the other boy was just too strong. Johnny raised his fist and came down hard onto Richard's stomach. He let out a cry and doubled over on the dirty, oil stained floor.

Johnny was about to kick him in the chest when he was knocked through a wall. "Just what the hell are you doing, bolt brain?" Richard looked up to see Red X standing over him. "We need him in one piece."

Red X pulled Richard up as Johnny walked back through the wall. Richard saw the hatred between the two and thought of something. If the two teen villains already didn't like each other, then it wouldn't be that hard to get one to turn on the other. As Johnny took a step forward, Richard took that as a que to hide behind Red X. There were two things that Red X couldn't resist; shiny things and helpless damsels in distress.

Richard held himself against Red X. He could feel the older teen stiffen. "Please, I'll do anything! Just don't let him hurt me." He whispered to Red X.

The bait was caught as Red X turned around and held the boy in his arms. "Don't worry, darlin'." Red X lifted Richard's chin up so he could see his face. "He can't hurt you while I'm here."

"Oh, cut the bullshit!" Johnny yelled.

"Go keep watch or something!" Red X took Richard into a different room and closed the door. Well, that plan backfired. Now, how was he going to get out?

Richard sat down on a swivel chair as Red X leaned against the desk. "I need you to tell me what's worth stealing at Wayne Industries." So that's what this was about. It sure did explain a lot. Red X just wanted something to steal.

"I don't know." That was the truth. Richard never had any interest in what the company built.

"Come on. No new shiny guns? No jewels?" Red X leaned in.

"Why would Wayne Industries have jewelry?" Richard asked.

"Why not? They have everything else." Red X took Richard’s chin in his hand once again. "Including a show-stopping teen masquot such as yourself." Richard closed his eyes for a short while before snapping them back open. Why did it feel good to have this guy touch him?

"I see the drug is finally taking affect. I was starting to worry that one wasn't going to kick in." Red X turned Richard's head to the side and lowered his lips to the boy's neck. Richard let out a small moan as Red X sucked hard on his skin. Wait! If Red X's lips were on his neck, then that meant that his mask was at least half off. How did he miss that?

Richard tried to push Red X away, but he ended up clinging to him. The feeling of those lips alone was driving him crazy. Then, he felt a hand slide up his thigh. The tingly sensations started to get to him and were making him hard. The hand was so close to its goal, now. Just a little farther.

Everything ended short when they heard a large crash outside. Red X pulled away and ran out the door to see what had happened. A few bangs and crashes, an explosion here or there. Richard couldn't remember when, but at some point it all ended and he was being carried out by someone. He tried to look up, but all he could see was orange and black. He wanted to scream, thinking it was Deathstroke, but before he could do anything he blacked out.


	5. Chapter 5

Richard woke up a few hours late. He was dizzy and couldn't move very well. He looked around to see that he was in his room.

What happened? All he remembered was that he had gone out to the club last night and that Nathan had pulled a stupid stunt with a ring...

Richard looked at his left hand and thanked the gods that his ring finger wasn't sporting a shiny new rock.

What else happened last night?

Richard got up and slowly made his way to the shower. He had school today and he wasn't going to skip just because he didn't feel well.

As he got in the shower he leaned against the wall and let the cold water pelt down on him as he slowly began to really wake up. Images of red and then orange and black...

3...

2...

1...

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Down, below, in the kitchen Alfred and Bruce were startled by the sudden loud scream from up in Richard's room. They rushed up the stairs to see Richard rampaging half naked in his room.

The boy took a book and threw it at the wall, leaving a crack to go up it. "Son of a bitch!" He yelled, "The next time I see that no good, suit stealing, dirty bastard, I'm gonna kill 'em!" The boy disappeared into his large closet for only a moment. When he came out, he was calmer, but he had a scowl on his face that was likely to stay there all day. He was fully dressed in a pair of low-riding ripped jeans and a red tank top, barely long enough to cover his belly button.

"Feel better?" Bruce asked.

"Yes, much." Richard sat on his bed and pulled on the pair of boots from last night. Bruce frowned. He never liked those damn boots.

"Whatever. Just meet me down stairs when you're ready. I've got some stuff to go over with you." Bruce then left the room and went down to the Bat cave. He would never understand teenagers. He himself never experienced delinquent-hood so he left things like this to Alfred.

"Perhaps, Master Richard, you should put on some more clothes." Alfred fled the room as soon as Richard gave a look that would send any villain running. Although, Alfred did it a bit more dignified and with a bow.

Richard brushed his teeth and dried his hair, the whole time thinking that his skin felt weird. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. He hair was almost touching his shoulders and he considered cutting it right there and now, but he wasn't any good at that and would probably look weird afterwards so he just brushed it out and went down to the Bat cave to see what it was that Bruce wanted to talk about. He just hoped it wasn't another attempt at 'the talk'.

As he slid down the pole, some that felt different than normal, he saw Bruce in 'Batman mode' at the computers. The screen showed the substance that was in his water last night. "Is that what you wanted to talk about? I already know about it. It's a tranque with stimuli in it." He turned to leave.

"And while the tranquilizer is gone the stimuli is still in your system..."

"What?!" Richard stomped back over to the computers, "How long will it stay there?!"

"Only for a few days, but that means no Robin until it's out. When your heartbeat is up the drug will take effect. Like running," He held up a doctor's note,” If you run the track and fall it won’t be the same. It will feel more like a second story drop." 

"...This sucks." And Richard took the note. He would find some way of getting out of the house as Robin later. "Is that all?"

"No, I've been looking into Deathstroke's activity and I can't think of a single reason as to why he would melt down and steal jewelry. It just doesn't make any sense."

"Are you sure?" Richard was now confused. "I mean, there might be some super weapon that uses gold and silver as a power source, right?" He looked over at Bruce with hope, but the man only shook his head.

"No, there aren't any properties in gold or silver that can be used as energy." Bruce leaned back in his chair, "I honestly don't know why he robbed a jewelry store.” He paused for a moment, “Of course, when that should be at the top of my 'to do' list, I'm stuck with this mess to clean up." Bruce threw this morning's newspaper on the table. It showed a picture of Richard in the arms of Nathan the night before. "Apparently, there's to be an engagement party. Dammit, I hate that little shit."

"Well, as long as you know it's not my fault." Richard patted Bruce on the back and started to leave.

"No more parties, no more patrol, and no more accepting water from STRANGERS."

"Man, you're just not going to let that one go! I thought that it was normal for that club. It's new, how was I supposed to know?"

Before the man could reply, Alfred came on the intercom, announcing Slade's arrival. "Gotta go!" And the boy ran upstairs and to the kitchen. He sat down at the counter and dug into a stack of waffles that were sitting there for him.

Slade walked in just as Richard was stuffing his face. "Slow down or you won’t need someone to protect you." That made Richard stop from shoving another forkful into his mouth, not wanting to choke and die.

"So, what are you doing here? I was under the impression that you would have quit after last night." Richard said rather smugly.

The man sat down, across from him, accepting the cup of coffee offered to him by Alfred. "And I would have thought that you would be a little more shaken up." He countered, lifting the mug to his lips.

"If we went to crazy town every time Master Richard was threatened by someone I would have to have the mail forwarded." Alfred piped in, saying it like there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Slade glanced over at Richard with a look of amusement. "Bruce pisses a lot of people off."

"No, you piss a lot of people off." Bruce proclaimed as he came into the room, wearing one of the super expensive business suits that he would wear whenever he was dealing with a woman that day.

Richard rolled his eyes and got up from his seat and walked over to the sink and dropped the plate in. "Whatever you say, Bruce. I'm out."

As Richard started walking out the door of the kitchen Bruce stopped him. "Did you forget to get dressed?” He said, without even looking up from his newspaper as he took a sip of his coffee.

"I've already tried with him, Master Bruce." Alfred said, letting Richard walk out without having to stop.  
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The limo ride to school was uncomfortable to say the least. Aside from the fact that Slade was staring at him like he was an atomic bomb, his skin was driving him crazy, which in turn, made his clothes feel like light caresses. “Stop staring at me!”

“If you didn’t want people to stare then maybe you should wear something a little less revealing.”

“Oh, so what? Are you saying it’s my fault that I was attacked last night?” Richard crossed his arms and legs. Dammit! Why did all his pants have to be so tight? He bit his lip to stem back the moan that almost released from his throat.

“You make it a little hard not to want to attack you.”

“What?”

“You were stupid enough to accept water from a complete-“

“Will everyone just shut up about that already?”

The limo pulled up to Richard’s school and he got out even before it came to a complete stop. He all but ran to his first class, knowing that Slade would have to wait outside in the hall.  
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Lunch time rolled round and Richard had managed to somehow dodge Slade at every turn. He wasn’t really angry with the man; just a little upset that he sided with the bad guys. Of all the things to say, the man basically said that he was easy.

Richard threw open his locker and tossed his stuff inside.

“What’s with you?”

Richard slammed his locker shut and there was Conner, standing on the other side of the door. “Oh my God! What’re you doing here? You’re supposed to be in school.”

“Yeah?”

“In Smallville!” Richard grabbed the other teen’s arm and dragged him around the corner for some privacy.

“I can fly. I’ll be back before lunch is over. Besides, I wanted to see you. I heard about what happened with Red X.”

“So has everybody else, but you don’t see them running or flying or teleporting over to see how I’m doing.”

“They’re not dating you!”

“No, they’re not! But you are and so you should know that I can take care of myself!”

Conner pulled out today’s paper and opened it and showed the front page to Richard. “Really? Is this what you call taking care of yourself?”

“Oh my god…”

“If I’d known you were going to go off and get engaged I would have ditched the dads.” Conner threw the paper in the trash.

“This isn’t about my safety. This is about Nathan! Jesus! You are such an insecure-“ The bell rang for the end of lunch before Richard was able to finish. “Great! I didn’t even eat!” He turned and walked back to his locker and slammed it shut after grabbing his bag. It was amazing how quickly time flew by when they had an argument. 

The halls empty into the classrooms quickly and Richard had every intention to follow.

“Richard, wait!” Conner reached out and pulled Richard to his chest, his arms wrapped around him.

When Richard slammed back into Conner’s chest, he knew it wasn’t that hard, but the force made him cry out in pain. It felt he was slammed into a brick wall by a couple of steel rods and was now pinned there. “Let go! Conner you’re hurting me!”

“What? No, I’m not. I’m barely touching you. And I’m not insecure. It’s just that every time I turn my back Nathan just magically appears.”

“It’s not magic, it’s Twitter! Now let me go- I can’t breathe!”

When Richard began to cry, other boy dropped him and stepped back, letting him fall to the floor. He let out another cry when he hit the tile.

Conner could do nothing, but stand and stare as Richard laid there, on the floor, gasping for breath. “I… I didn’t mean to-“ As Conner reached down to comfort Richard, he heard someone running down the hall towards them at a fast pace. After looking back at Richard for a moment he flew down the and out of the building, back to Smallville.  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Slade was just outside the building, doing a perimeter check, when he heard the argument between Richard and someone else. The other voice sounded very familiar; however he didn’t get time to place it, because as soon as he heard the voices, the argument escalated into yelling and then screaming.

He ran into the building and through the halls until he found his charge on the floor, just trying to sit up. “Don’t move.” He looked the boy over for any signs of serious injury. When he saw none, he grabbed the boy’s arm to pull him up to his feet, but had to let go when the boy gasped in pain. The stimulant must still be in his system.

“Who’s out there? You should be in class already!” A voice called out from somewhere in the hallways.

Slade scooped up the boy in his arms and ran out of the building and to the waiting limo, Richard struggling the whole time. “Wayne Manor!” He called to the driver and then rolled up the divider. He was forced to keep the boy in his arms to prevent him from hurting himself. After a while the boy calmed down. The humming from the limo was a bit rough, but it seemed to calm Richard down. 

“You can let me go now.” Richard tried to get out of Slade’s lap, but the man refused to let go. “I’m ok.”

“I’d hardly call you ok.” Slade loosened his arms only a little. It was just enough for Richard to sit up in the man’s lap. The limo went over a speed bump a little too hard at the exactly wrong moment and made the two slam into each other and causing Richard to straddle Slade’s lap.

Richard moaned in pain as he clung to Slade’s shirt. Slade, in turn, awkwardly rubbed the boy’s back. When that didn’t seem to work, he raised his palm and just stroked his fingertips up and down. This received a completely different reaction. A small gasp was heard from Richard and Slade moved his fingers lower. Richard pressed himself to Slade more and pressed down into his lap.

The limo slowed to a stop at the gates to Wayne Manor and the two separated, their senses suddenly coming back to them. Richard moved all the way over to the other side of the limo and crossed his legs uncomfortably. They remained in stubborn silence the rest of the way to the manor. Both wondering what just happened and both blaming the drug.


	6. Chapter 6

One week and neither of them said a word to each other.

Two weeks and both refused to look at each other.

By the third week, Richard was sneaking out of the house before Slade got there to pick him up. 

In retrospect it probably wasn’t his brightest decision, but he was desperate to get away from the man. And in that desperation he never noticed the shadows that started to fallow him in the early hours as he walked to school.

By the end of the third week it had already become a routine for Richard to get breakfast on his way to school at the French bakery that he walked by every morning. He had become part of the morning trickle, showing up just after the shop would open for the day. He had started to notice a pattern in the others that frequented the shop so early in the dawning hours; A woman who got a chocolate croissant and large Frappuccino every other morning. The other woman who would glare at the croissant and only order and herbal tea and a banana. And a couple of business men who would rush out together after buying small black coffees for themselves and a different fancy drink for their boss every morning.

Richard joined the others in line, looking up at the menu board overhead and flipping through the songs on his ipod.

When it was his turn at the counter, he pulled his ear buds out and gave his order. “Uh… today I’ll have a large vanilla latte with whipped cream and what kind of scones do you have today?”

“We just pulled out a batch of cranberry orange scones from the oven!” The barista replied. “We also have the blueberry ones with sea salt like the one you had yesterday, but these are the best!”

Richard had to agree. These were the best scones he ever had. He dropped a ten dollar bill in the tip jar on his way out as he devoured the pastry. By the time he was crossing the street, he had finished it and was slowly enjoying his coffee.

Today was turning out to be a nice day.

 

“Mr. Wayne-“

“Shh… Don’t speak.” Bruce held the blonde close in his arms as the two sat on the couch in the library.

“But Mr. Way-“ The woman was silenced by a single finger to her lips.

“Please,” Bruce whispered as he pulled her in closer, “call me Bruce.”

“Oh, Bruce…” And with that the woman leaned in to his chest, ready to give herself away to the suave gentleman. Their lips were so close now, it would be a crime not to taste them.

 

“Let me guess, he’s not here.” Slade drank the morning coffee that Alfred supplied him with each morning.

“I’m afraid not. He seems rather determined to not see you.”

As Slade finished up his coffee a beep came from his jacket pocket. He pulled out his cell phone to see a message from the little devil himself. When he opened the message up, it showed a picture of a street cross sign. He said his goodbye to Alfred as he left the mansion and then another photo message came in and he was running to his car.

 

Richard ran into another ally, trying to get away from what he could only describe as a gang of rednecks. As soon as they had started to chase him, he sent Slade a picture of the street sign with his phone as he ran pass.

These rednecks weren’t too smart, but damn they were fast. One of them even had a shotgun. A couple of times one or two of them had grabbed him. That was how he managed to end up in this ally maze between buildings.

As he turned another corner, he held his cell behind him and took another picture and sent that one to Slade as well.

“Shit! The lil’ faggot took a picture o’ me!” The one with the mullet yelled, stumbling from the blinding flash from the camera phone and taking another shot at him with the gun. 

They went round and round through the allies. All of the rednecks were fat, really skinny, or just plain out of shape so it wasn’t really a surprise when Richard finally lost them.

The teen slowed down to a lazy stumble as he exited the ally. He was suddenly very happy that he hadn’t gotten two scones. Running around right after eating was never a good thing to do.

“HEY!”

Richard looked up at the yell. Just across the street was Slade getting out of a souped-up Impala. He waved at the man as he crossed the street.

“What happened to the hillbillies?” Slade asked, looking around.

“It’s ok. Just a false alarm.”

As if just to prove him wrong, said redneck/hillbillies came barreling around the corner, whooping and hollering, running at them at full speed. Somehow three more of them had gained shotguns and their party seemed to have grown.

“RUN!!” Without waiting for Slade, Richard ran straight to the car and dived in. He turned to yell at the other to get in, but as he looked up, all he saw was Slade calmly walking to the car and the redneck/hillbillies lying in a pile, unconscious.

Slade got into the car and started it up. “I’ll give you a choice. You can still make it to school, but I’ll take you home if you want.”

A length of silence stood between the two like a brick wall. Richard knew that he should go to school. Bruce would kill him if he didn’t and Alfred would just make him feel guilty all day for not going. But he really didn’t feel very good after running around like that. The fact that he saw shot at a bunch of times only made it worst.

“What if I want to go to the mall?” Richard asked, turning in his seat towards the older man.

“No.” Plain and simple.

“What!? But I don’t to go to school today! Not after that. I need to unwind.” He crossed his arm over his chest and then uncrossed them, realizing that he probably looked like a petulant child.

“Then you can do that at home.” Slade pulled out of his parking spot and back out into traffic just as a couple of cop car pulled up to the scene.

“Oh, and how do you expect me to do that?”

“You’d be amazed what you can do in bed.” As soon as it left his mouth both of them looked away from each other.

“”I’m sure you know all about what you can do in bed.” Richard smirked and turned back to Slade. And with that, all of the awkward tension between them was gone.


	7. Chapter 7

“What do you mean he’s still alive?!” The Joker yelled into the phone. “If I could, I’d crawl through this phone and strangle you with the cord!” 

His lawyer quivered behind the safety glass, afraid that the Joker might actually try to. He did want this job. His boss made him take it. If it were up to him, he’d hightail it to Mexico and never look back at Gotham again.

“I’m sorry sir, but he’s got a bodyguard; a really good one. He’s ex-army or something. You shouldn’t be trying to kill him any anyway. That will just mess up your chance for appeal.” His lawyer sobbed.

“Appeal…?” The Joker stopped. “What appeal?”

“You’re given one shot to appeal your case in front of a judge. Even with your… long history, we can probably get you into rehab at a minimum security facility.”

“Really? You mean there’s hope I can be cured!? Oh, I’ve always wanted that. You see? It’s not my fault I’m like this.” The Joker Smiled and then put on a frowny-face.

“Y-yes. I think we have a strong case for-“

“IT’S BATMAN’S! And that little shit Richard Grayson!” The Joker ripped the phone’s cord right out of the wall as he continued to rant. This attracted the attention of the guards, who immediately came over to restrain. That marked the end of their visiting session and left the lawyer wondering why he ever wanted to become one in the first place.

_____________________

 

Slade and Richard returned to the mansion after stopping by the local comic book store to pick a great deal of 50 cent comics. By a great deal of course was meant that they bought every one they had. Richard was going to do this after school, but now since he wasn’t going to school today, he figured he’d just get them now. 

Tomorrow night was an annual charity ball for the Gotham City Orphanage and he and Bruce went every year.

This bit of information didn’t slip by Slade, “It’s not a good idea to go this year. People are trying to kill you. You were just chased down by a group of hicks. I’m sure Mr. Wayne will agree with me when-“

“No! I’ll be damned if I let anyone keep me from charity event. We worked too hard to get some of the most important people in the city to come this year.” Richard refused as he made his way upstairs. This was a little more difficult to do than he thought it would be and he ended up having to take it slow and step up them sideways.

“Is this the royal ‘we’ or did you actually do something that required you to put in effort?” Slade snidely asked as he followed. He was fully expecting the kid to get angry.

“This is my first year in the charity committee. I’ve been working on this for six monthes. The theme was my idea and I even put together the band list for the entertainment and I-“

“Of course. For you it’s just one big party, isn’t it?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Richard stopped in his tracks and dropped his boxes of comics at the top of the stairs. He turned back to Slade. The man was carrying twice as many boxes, but didn’t seem to have any trouble balancing them in his arms.

Slade continued pass Richard, not stopping on the stairway to have an argument with a teenager. “In the weeks that I have been here, not once have I seen a shred of evidence that you care about anything beyond your image. This party is just another opportunity to play dress up and pretend you’re an adult.”

“You know what? You can just put those down right there because I don’t want your help. I can move these on my own. And when your hands are free, you can use them to pull your head out of your ass!” Richard picked up his boxes once more and continued to the library.

As Richard swung the doors open, the sight of Bruce and a woman on the couch met his eyes. The two wouldn’t have even noticed him if it weren’t for the fact that the doors banged against the wall and the sound echoed through the large room.

Bruce and the woman jumped up, right off the couch, as Richard came in.

“Richard! What are you doing home? Isn’t school about to start?” Bruce asked as he straightened himself out. The woman next to him pulled out a compact mirror from her purse to check her lipstick.

“I had a minor run in with some rednecks and their shotguns.” Richard asked as he dropped the boxes on a table and turned to go get the rest.

“Oh my,” The woman put her mirror away and pulled out a pen and pad, “What was that like?”

“Have you ever seen ‘The Hills Have Eyes’?” Richard answered as he left the room.

“Don’t write that down.” Bruce put his hand over the pad of paper. “Richard, this Miss Summers from the Gotham Times.” Bruce gestured to the woman. “We were just going over some interview questions.”

“Could I ask you some questions about tomorrow night’s charity?” Miss Summers asked, hopeful.

“Richard looked back at Slade who was standing in the doorway then back to the reporter. “Sure. I’d love to answer any questions you have!” He said with a beaming smile.

“Great! My first question is: What kind of entertainment do you have planned for the night?” Miss Summers smiled, not at all noticing the exchange between Richard and Slade.

“I’m glad you asked! We’re very excited about our playlist. The first band for the evening will be Black Rose Garden. I know they sound like some death metal group, but they’re actually classical musicians. They take new music and rework it into an orchestra. I’m a huge fan!” Richard carefully worded everything he said, know that he would be quoted word for word. Growing up with Bruce Wayne as his adopted father had taught him quite a few things on handling the press. Although, he wouldn’t resort to snogging on the couch, he was going to make sure that no bad publicity would get in the way of this event.

“You sound like one. What makes the bands you picked so special?” Miss Summers asked.

“Their talent,” Richard replied, “But there is something they all have in common.”

It was at this point that Slade decided to leave, not wanting to listen to any more of this shit. As he walked down the hall to the front entrance, Alfred passed by and inquired if everything was alright. He explained to the elderly man what had happed earlier and reassured him that everything would be alright. “I’m just going to take a look around the perimeter and I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Very well, I’ll have some coffee ready for you when you come back. You’re going to need it.” Alfred didn’t bother to explain why he be needing coffee, but Slade wouldn’t argue with him.

So Slade exited the mansion and proceeded to check the outside of the property and the surrounding grounds. He took note of all the security surveillance. There were quite a few cameras, microphones, even laser trip wires that he had to go around. It was no wonder Bruce Wayne didn’t need any human security while inside his home; the whole of Wayne Enterprises’ hardware was put into this place along with the fact that it stood on cliff. Behind the building was a large garden with a courtyard and then just beyond that was a straight shot down into the ocean. This place was completely secure. That thought made him want to doing a run-through tonight to test the system. He’d yet to test out a Wayne security system. It could be fun.

A couple of hours went by as Slade took his time going around the building. He made his way to the back of the mansion a second time when he noticed a figure pass by a window on the third floor. A few moments of waiting and the figure passed by the window again. It was Richard. The huge window must belong to his bedroom. This time he stopped in front of the glass as he pulled his shirt off, revealing a surprisingly tone body underneath. If he weren’t Wayne’s kid, he would have already had this kid under him and out of his system by now. But he couldn’t do anything to this kid because of his position.

Soon though, he would be out of there. When the time came, he would take care of the threat and then he would be gone. He would no longer owe a debt to Bruce Wayne and he’d be free of this endless parade. Thinking on that, Slade considered the charity ball. There was long A-list of people who would be showing that night. No doubt covered in jewels, their purses and wallets bursting at the seams until asked for donations and there was certainly going to be an auction of some sort. A building full of snobs wanting to prove that they had the power to make the lives of some poor, weak, little orphans just a little bit better. They liked to think that these children wouldn’t survive without them and their money once a year.

Slade continued in his brood as he walked back into the Mansion. He noted as he passed through the driveway that the reporter had left, but didn’t really care, but as he stepped into the large foyer, the sound of a girl giggling caught his ear. This he did care about. If the reporter was gone, then who was there now?

He decided to follow the sound. This led him through the front living room and into the den. There sat Richard with two girls about his age. A dark haired girl with pale skin and dressed in dark blue and the other dress in cut-off blue jeans and a pink t-shirt that barely covered her chest. He was wondering about the unusual hue of orange of her skin and how it was somehow familiar when the teens noticed him in the doorway.

“Speak of the devil and he shall appear. You must be Slade.” The dark haired girl spoke, never even looking up at him as she tore a page out of a magazine. She tossed it into a pile of blue pages and then continued to flip through the magazine.

Richard and the other girl turned to him, but said nothing. Richard was ripping up the comic books they had picked up earlier and the girl was organizing bolts of black and white fabric.

“Hey, hey!” A voice came from behind, “We here and we got junk!” Two teen boys entered the room carrying cases of canned soda and a black garbage bag.

“Is it recyclable junk?” Richard asked as he stood from his spot on the floor and walked over to the other two boys. He reached into the garbage bag and pulled out an empty tofu box. “Well, at least you cleaned them.”

“Not all of mine are empty yet, so drink up people!” The tallest boy handed out the soda and everyone started to drink. He turned to Slade and offered one to him. “You want one?”

Slade just stared at him and walked away. Let them goof off. It wasn’t his problem so long as they didn’t go outside. He had more important things to think of.


End file.
